Duel: Faiyloe vs. BrookSkimmer

[BrookSkimmer]

Rashad stood at the helm of the mighty Ice Talon, a double masted frigate. The ship cut through the icy waters of the far north, sending spray in all directions. Small chunks of ice floated in the frigid water, dotting the green and blue depths with white. The ermine Captain, Rashad the Blue surveyed the scene with an equally as cold glare.

"Garron!" She barked the First Mate's name.

"Aye Cap'n?" Garron the heavy set rat growled.

"Tell the crew to get themselves ready. We'll be coming upon the northern hare encampment before night fall. I want those rotten rabbit's guts strew on the tide lines before the sun sets." She drew her cutlass and sighted down the blade. It was clean, sharp, and straight. "Git moving Mate or I'll have your guts as well!"

"Aye Cap'n!" Garron lumbered off to do his master's bidding.

It was not long before the captives from the brig had been brought to the deck. All crew and stood to attention until orders had been giving.

Rashad looked over her crew and the string of prisoners.

"Do not mistake this for mercy captives!" She glowered at the line of pathetic creatures. "You will be used as shields against the hare onslaught once we reach shore."

The evil Captain laughed at the thought and turned her attentions away from the slave line.

[Faiyloe]

Jaranna struggled with the lock on her shackles the cold wind nipping at her nose and making the mettle bite into her skin. She had managed to get her paws on a dagger and was now attempting to pick the lock. Every time she looked up she saw Rashad, the Ermine was as evil as they came, She glared at her with hatred and distaste in her green eyes. She looked back down at her work. She almost had it. There! The lock came open with a soft click. Jaranna looked up Rashads back was to her now. Quickly she slipped out of her chains and rushed forward on an unsuspecting guard She hit him hard twice on the back of the head with the handle of the dagger. He fell to the deck unconscious.

Jaranna took the saber from his belt and a Crossbow from his paw it had an arrow notched to it and she grabbed two more off his person. Her back the the mast she pointed it at Rashad and said "Not if I have any thing to do with it!" She let the arrow fly and loaded another one.   

[BrookSkimmer]

Rashad stifled a laugh as a mouse managed to down one of her crew. The oaf deserved what he got if he couldn't defend against a such a small adversary. The Captain watched as the mouse took weapons off the beast she had knocked out.

"Nobeast touch this one!" She called out to the crew as the mouse backed towards the main mast. "She's mine." The last words issued cold, her blue eyes locking onto Jaranna.

She could not recall where this one had been picked up. Perhaps from the western isles, perhaps further north. They had raided various encampments and settlements over the past season. This one would die for her actions, but Rashad would see death come slowly to her victim. This mouse would prove as a lesson for the others.

Not if I have any thing to do with it!

"Har har!" Her sea faring laugh echoed across the deck. The other crew members laughed along with their Captain. "You've got quite a lot of pluck don't ye little miss?"

Rashad side stepped the arrow as it came off the cross bow. It quivered in the ship's railing not far behind her. She licked her cutlass blade and moved towards the mouse.

"Do you know how to use such weapons mouse?" This would be quite fun.

[Faiyloe]

"Would you like me to show you!" Jaranna said gritting her teeth and throwing aside the cross bow. She took the Saber in both paws and got in to a defensive stance. She remembered the day when Rashad had moored the Ice Talon on the shores of her home. They came as a wave of destruction burning, pillaging and looting. Her father had stood up to Rashad and she had cut him down while Jaranna watched helpless and restrained.   A cold tear of anger ran down her face and was swept away by the freezing wind. She had been walking slowly closer this whole time and griped the hilt of the Saber tighter and lunged swinging it over her head bringing it down on Rashad.   

[BrookSkimmer]

Rashad merely lifted her lip in a scornful expression as the mouse retorted.

"My, my, my..." She chuckled. "Temper temper little mousie." Then the memory of where she had seen this mouse before hit her. The tear running down her cheek gave it away. "Ah yes, I remember you. I remember the look on your face when I slew your father." She winked at Jaranna. "He should have known better than to cross steel with me."

The Captain lifted her cutlass as the mouse struck down. The blades clanged together with more force than Rashad had thought. Perhaps this mouse did have some fight in her.

"You should know better as well." Her temper was calm as she countered the mouse's blow.

The eyes of everybeast on board was now riveted on the conflict. This would end in death one way or another. Rashad stabbed forth with her blade, aiming for the mouse's midsection. She thought she could already taste Jaranna's blood.

[Faiyloe]

Jaranna blocked the blow her eyes blazing with hate for her opponent and said "If my father had been younger you wouldn't even be here now!" She took a steep to her right and swung the blade at Rashads left side. (OOC: I am assuming that she is right pawed so that her left side would be more exposed) "I will finish what my father started,"

[BrookSkimmer]

Again the strength in the block surprised Rashad. The ermine felt the reverberation of the blow travel up into her paw. It hurt, but what was a little pain? She had experienced far worse in her day.

A circle had begun to form around the two combatants. Rashad had warned her crew to stay back. They would keep the other prisoners in line and not interfere with the fight. She would best this upstart on her own, without assistance from her crew.

The blade came towards Rashad in a tight swing at her left flank. Had she been a less experienced swordsbeast the blow might have connected. However, Rashad was a seasoned battler. She flicked her cutlass into play to keep Jaranna's blade from connecting.

"I'll see to you and your father reuniting soon, don't you worry." Her voice dripped sarcasm as she readied her blade for another attack.

She brought up the cutlass after parrying the blow to her side. The blade swept down at an angle from shoulder to gut and then stabbed forth again, seeking to take the mouse through her middle. Rashad's blue eyes gleamed with battle light. This mouse was putting up quite the the fight. Very entertaining.

[Faiyloe]

Jaranna to a hop backwards swinging the saber deterring her opponents thrust. The blade tor through the side of her shirt just grazing her right side.

"Not before you are standing before Hell gates! I may die here today I will not deny that but under stand this if I do you will come with me!"  She swung the blade up attempting to make contact with her opponents sword paw.

[BrookSkimmer]

Rashad had been hoping the attack would result in a quick kill but the mouse was fast! She retracted her blade and cursed under her breath.

The mouse continued on in her attacks, speaking of death and hellgates. This prisoner certainly had the fire of hatred alive and burning. The corsair Captain tried to muster the same sort of fortitude up in herself but fell short. What did it matter? She would overcome this little beast with sheer strength.

The blade came up, aiming at Rashad's sword paw. Again she felt reverberations sting up her paw as the mouse's blade pinged into the paw guard on the cutlass.

"Gates..." Rashad muttered under her breath as she fought for a moment to hold onto the blade. There was no way she would let a little prisoner make her drop her blade!

"Big words for such a little beast!" Rashad cackled and jumped forward on nimble paws. She slashed out from right to left with the cutlass first at neck height and then again at chest height.

[Faiyloe]

Jaranna took a step back and brought her Saber up blocking the second swing. "Size matters not, the worst mistake you ever made was when you left me alive. Now you will meet death at my paws for your misdoings to make up for all the lives you have ruined all the homes you have destroyed. After today the name Rashad will longer be a name of terror on the northerner sea. As the cold wind rips the sail in a gale, your name shall be, torn and useless. No longer a threat  to the peaceful lives of innocent creatures," With those last words she thrust at Rahads midriff. The cold wind tore at her fur and clothes amplifying the pain in her side almost numbing it. It was only a tiny scratch yet it stung.

[BrookSkimmer]

The mouse continued to speak though Rashad was not listening. How Jaranna could keep up such a torrent of speaking while fighting was something the Captain could not understand. Her ice blue eyes continued to search for an opening in her opponent's attacks.

The Captain came in a little closer, looking for the moment to stab out at the mouse. That was when Jaranna attacked with a thrust to the midriff. The corsair had not been on guard for such a ferocious attack. she moved to the side as quickly as possible but the attack still took her in the side. The blade grazed down into her flesh which made her yelp.

"How dare you!" Her lips lifted in a snarl. "I'll kill you for that mouse!"

Rashad began on onslaught of attacks. She swung her blade left and right, hoping to batter the mouse with blow. She pressed forward, trying to get her to back up into the mast of the ship.

[Faiyloe]

" I thought you were going to kill me for my rashness. You really need to make up your mind. You can't kill me twice," Jaranna said grinning she had drawn the first real blood, The little scratch on her side didn't real count, but   she was unprepared for the on slot that came next.

She blocked the first blow the reverberation ran down her sword paw and she almost dropped her blade. She took two jumping steps backwards but was unable to avoid the blade. She brought her left paw up to her stinging cheek as warm blood mingled with her black fur. She tried to block the next blow but came short and as she felt the sward come in contact with her left flank she let out a barely contained scream.

The sound of her own scream brought back the memory of that awful night clear in her head. She saw the moon light and the shore of her home a place which had once been a place of peace and joy. Now all she could remember about it was the image of the sand running red with the blood of her friends and family and the scream she had let out that night as her father had fallen lifeless to the sand to join the rest. Now she wondered why Rashad had let her live.

With the image fresh in her mind she came at Rashad with a new found hatred. Her pain and her loss was grater than anything that Rashad could feel towards her. She took the dagger from her sash and began to fight slashing, hacking, and blocking with both weapons at once.  

[BrookSkimmer]

Rashad was met with a frenzy of attacks. The Captain backed up for a moment, marveling at the fight in this mouse. Her side burned where she had been cut by the sword and for the first time she felt respect towards the one she fought. It had been many seasons since somebeast had come any where close to scoring a hit in a duel, much less one as deep and painful as the sword cut.

The ermine ignored Jaranna's words. They mattered little. She would finish the mouse off, that was certain. Silencing her for good would be worth more than continuing the bandy words.

She continued to move, this time coming forward and bringing her cutlass into play. She also drew her long knife, working to counter Jaranna's strikes and make attacks of her own. Her paws stung from the reverberation of so many blocked blows. Her goal was to push the mouse up against the mast and then run her through.

More than once Jaranna's blades struck true. Rashad was now bleeding in several places, including a nasty gash to her brow. Still she warned off her crew, they would not interfere with this fight. With a great effort she lunged forward, seeking to take the mouse in the shoulder with her cutlass. If the attack landed, it would render the arm useless.

[Faiyloe]

Jarannas leg hurt painfully and she was forced to limp keeping all her weight on her right side. She fought on trying to keep the upper hand in the fight but despite her efforts she was being pushed towards the mast. She had received several more hits, a clip to her left ear, a gash in her left arm and another cut in her right side. Jaranna saw Rashades blade but was unable to move fast enough. A shooting pain shot through her left shoulder making her drop the dagger and yell in pain. She stumbled backwards almost letting go of the saber as well.       

[BrookSkimmer]

Rashad bared her fangs in an evil grin as her attacks began to hit home. The mouse was now suffering from many wounds. She had received a few of her own but not compared to the smaller creature.

Now Jaranna stumbled backwards, almost dropping her blade as she went.

"It's over mouse! I'll show you and all the others what happens to those who defy me!"

The Captain let a cold laugh escape her as she moved in for the killing blow. She raised her cutlass high and stepped in, aiming to take the mouse's head.